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Cleaning out the Egg

I find that the Egg is the best appliance for cooking and the WORST for cleaning. I have tried various methods throughout the years and haven't found one better than using a combination of the L-shaped Egg tool and my hands. It's a messy and time-consuming process. Does anybody have a method for cleaning their Egg that is better than that: quick and easy?

Do mine the same way but even pulling the fire ring and box it only takes about ten minutes

What he said. Pulled the fire ring and box out today and pushed out the ash out with my gook gloves. 15 minutes tops, maybe less. I've heard of a guy that has a tube for his shop vac to reach around the back so no need to pull the ring and box but I hate cleaning my shop vac of ashes worse so I'll pass on that one. Just remember, cleaning is simple and total sobriety is not required. That makes it easier.

My brother has had his Egg for 6 years and only takes out the firebox and ring once a year. He never had any problems or major buildup. I think people over think this. The thing cleans itself and one in a while I will scrap out the ashes into a metal bucket. Takes 2 minutes.

Other than taking out the ash in the bottom, why would you clean it? I've had an egg for 15 years and I've never done anything but clean out the ashes and about twice a year take out the firebox to get the areas in behind the holes.

I think it depends on the size of your egg. I have a large I use the ash tool to clean every 2-3 cooks. I'll pull the fire ring & box every 2-3 low & slows.

I clean the small very frequently. There's a big distance between the fire box & the outside of the Egg so lots of ash gets in there. I take the small tailgating and cooking away from home so the last thing I need is air flow problems. I dump the hot coals & ash to facilitate cooling so we can get moving and of course that cleans it out too.

I have an XL. Only thing I clean out is the ash. I remove the charcoal grate and use a mini shovel and scoop out the majority of the ash -- maybe twice a year. It might take me one minute.

x2. I would say the XL has an ash pit 6x larger than a large.

As for the large ... I think people get too worried about cleaning all the ash out. You only need to get enough ash out to enable good airflow. Even if the ash pit is 1/2 full ... airflow is not impeded. 2-3 swipes with the ash tool into a bucket and you're good to go.

I have an XL and a large, soon a medium. Only way I do it is every couple cooks or so, I get the shop vac and suck it all out. No need to do much more if you take care of it and keep it covered and vented.

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L-shaped Egg tool daily and on Sunday night i remove the firebox use the L-shape tool along with a bannister brush to sweep the inside. Half a glass of Scotch and a 1/2 a Cigar is all the time it takes.

On a side note, wood ash is good in asparagus beds, unless you already have alkiline soil. I'm guessing that the egg ash (eggscrement ) would be great since it's pure lump and wood. Does anybody have any thoughts or experience here?

Asparagus growers used to use salt to weed the beds. It handles extremely saline soil. The downside is you can't grow anything else in that soil. It would take a lot of "eggscrement" to make it too salty for other plants, the alkalinity issue - guess it depends on what you plant, but ash is loaded with minerals.

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I've learned that I get best results if I completely clean out the mini every time I use it. Of course, because it's so small, it just takes a few minutes. I do a full clean on my large once every 20-lb bag, usually before a brisket or butt cook.

I made a small scoop with a 5 inch radius on the front edge. It fits right down into the ash pit and I can clean right to the edges. Then I fire up the shop vac and finish the job. I also made an ash chute for easy dumping into my trash bucket.